Climatology

Wind Energy Resources in Michigan

As the price of fossil fuels increases, there is increasing interest in wind energy in Michigan and across the Great Lakes region. Two recent wind energy-related projects at MSU have explored the potential for this renewable energy form in Michigan.  In the first, historical hourly wind data were collected for the purpose of developing a new, detailed atlas describing wind energy potential across Michigan.  In the second, a mesoscale regional climate model (MM5) was evaluated for accuracy in describing wind energy potential across the Great Lakes region at three different spatial resolutions: 36km, 12km, and 4km.  The results of the study indicated that a coarser spatial domain resolution was more reliable in describing observed wind direction and velocity.  Overall, however, the MM5 was found to contain a number of biases that limit its potential ability to determine potential wind resources in the region.